Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Day 9 - What's my what? (plus tangent)

Here we are at day nine of the Eat..Sleep...Write: 15 day writer's challenge!

Today's assignment: "What is your current writing project?"

I would have to say... This.
These blog entries and weekly letters to The Penslayer are my only regular writing of any kind at the moment.

I'm in the midst of The Comitatus Britanniarum (a story blog with Jenny, now labeled ` for some reason as yet unascertained), but as we are both almost in over our heads with other work, it's more or less paused.

If I may spiral off into a tangent...

I am enjoying weekly letter writing. It gives one another anchor into the passage of time. When you have a life that is more or less the same every day, it's things like that that remind you yes, time is passing on. Today is not the same as yesterday. It is coming on Autumn, soon it will be Spring. I think my visit with Jenny was the only real "Summer" I was able to experience this year. It flew by in a whirl of projects. Winter did the same, with rehearsals that took me through the beginning of March. In short, it is August, and I feel as though I've scarcely drawn breath since before Christmas.

So I think I was wrong. Rather than reminding me of the long, large passings (months, seasons, etc.) little things, marking small increments, help me remember the in-between. That there are a whole three weeks before September. That there are nearly two months before my October deadline. That there is time in between that exists outside of deadlines and goals. Time in the here and now to be noticed and enjoyed. It deserves our notice, does it not?

Someone once said "Every moment is a gift. That's why it's called 'the present'."
Diary writing, letter writing, these are ways to recount, remember, and enjoy the present and recent past. When I write my weekly letter, I look back and notice the things that made this week unique to all others. And as I know I will be writing at the beginning of next week, as I go about my days I think, "I must remember this, to tell Jenny".

So thank you, Jenny. Because of you I now have a reason to reflect on and recognize the small things that deserve notice.

1 comment:

  1. That was enjoyable to read. I'm kind of glad that someone who calls themselves "not a writer" is doing the challenge. It makes me feel less inferior amongst this group of amazingly talented and dedicated authors (whom I love very much - I'm just aware that I'm not one of them).

    All this talk of letter writing makes me want to join in. I guess I will at some stage - once I find time to write and someone to write to. Hopefully once I'm at Oxford I'll start a "letter-type" blog recounting my weekly news or some such. But I'll have to see how time is once I'm swamped in my master's stuff.

    Ajjie >'.'<

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